EP0984076B1 - Apparatus for coating substrates in a vacuum chamber - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a device for coating of substrates in a vacuum with a rotatable Substrate carrier with at least one coating station and with a loading and unloading station.

A cathode sputtering system is known for Coating of substrates in a vacuum chamber (DE 39 12 295), in which a rotating substrate carrier is housed with at least one cathode station, a loading and unloading station, wherein the substrate carrier from at least one Transport trowel exists and the transport trowel comprises a substrate receiving body (receiving body), which is preferably in the direction of the axis of the Cathode station, or the loading station, or the unloading station movable is, the transport trowel preferably from one circular disc-shaped Substrate receiving body and an arm is formed which is designed and arranged so that the Receiving body with regard to those interacting with it Parts of the plant, like parts of the sputtering cathode, parts of the loading station, Sharing the unloading station while it is moving is always aligned parallel to these parts.

One is for one or more transport trowels Central to the sputtering system arranged drive device provided the the trowel by a certain angle step by step in the vacuum chamber of the cathode sputtering system transported further, the vacuum chamber the cathode sputtering system vertically is arranged and the trowel, respectively the transport trowels horizontally rotate the arranged axis.

This known cathode sputtering system is special suitable for coating circular disc-shaped flat disks in one Vacuum chamber with several thin layers are provided, with all layers using Sputtering processes are applied.

A device for Einund is also known Ejecting a substantially flat Workpiece in an evacuated coating chamber and for feeding and returning the workpiece in and from the area of a coating source for Purposes of the treatment of the workpiece surface (DOS 37 16 498), one in the area of the coating chamber arranged coating device with one or more lid-shaped Workpiece carriers is provided, with the help of which the workpieces in an opening of the coating chamber neighboring position can be brought, from which the opening on the one hand from the workpiece carrier and on the other hand can be closed by a lifting plate is on one inside the coating chamber rotating turntable is held and guided, the workpiece carrier from one on the coating device supporting lifting cylinder to the opening in the lid the coating chamber and the lifting plate from one lifting device attached to the base plate can be pressed.

This known device is only for one Coating with the aid of sputter cathodes is provided.

• der Reinraum ist voll kapselbar,
• mindestens eine Zufuhr- und Entnahmerichtung überführt die Carrier über eine Schleuse in den Arbeitsbereich der Fördereinrichtung und entnimmt sie über eine Schleuse,
• die Fördereinrichtung weist einen um eine Achse drehbaren Carrier-Trägerarm auf und
• die Bearbeitungsstationen sind im Schwenkbereich des Trägerarms angeordnet, wobei die Zufuhr- und Entnahmeeinrichtung mindestens eine Drehscheibe mit Abschirmung zwischen den Transportbehältern ausweist.

Furthermore, a clean room with a conveyor device that transports transport containers from one processing station to the next is known (DE 36 03 538) with the following features:

• the clean room is fully encapsulated,
• the carrier transfers at least one feed and removal direction via a lock into the working area of the conveyor device and removes it via a lock,
• the conveyor device has a carrier support arm which can be rotated about an axis and
• the processing stations are arranged in the swivel area of the support arm, the feed and removal device identifying at least one turntable with shielding between the transport containers.

Finally, an optical lens made of a clear plastic and a first layer made of SiO is known directly on the substrate (DE 44 30 363), the second layer being formed from borosilicate glass with a refractive index of 1.47 (Lambda 55 nm) and a thickness of up to 3 μ, preferably 2550 nm and the layers three to seven are formed from TiO ₃ , SiO ₂ , Al ₂ O ₃ for the purpose of an anti-reflection effect. For this purpose, the device for producing the thin layers on the plastic line is equipped with a piasma source opposite the plastic substrate, at least one evaporator next to the plasma source and at least one ring magnet above the substrate.

The present invention is based on the object in particular spherically shaped substrates, for example, glasses in a continuous Process to provide layers that a particularly high layer thickness uniformity using different types of coating sources be applied.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by that two adjacent vacuum chambers are provided are, with a rotatable in each of the two chambers Substrate carrier is provided, the Rotation axis of both substrate carriers parallel to each other are aligned and the transport levels the substrate carrier are aligned with each other, wherein in Separation area of the two chambers with locks one corresponding to the two substrate carriers Substrate transfer device is provided and one of the chambers being the loading and unloading station having.

Further details and features of the invention are described in more detail in the claims and characterized.

The invention allows a wide variety of design options to; one of them is in attached Drawings shown schematically, the one Device of the type in question in several Show process phases in top view.

The device consists essentially of two separated but immediately adjacent Vacuum chambers 3, 4, one in the separation area both vacuum chambers 3, 4 arranged one rotatable transport plate 20 having Substrate transfer device 5, two in the first Vacuum chamber 3 provided PECVD (Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition) - Sources 6, 7, one Infeed station 8 and an outfeed station 9, a total of five arranged in the second vacuum chamber 4 Sputter sources 10 to 14 and stored in both vacuum chambers 3, 4 and rotatable about vertical axes A and B, respectively Transport arms 15, 16 each with their free Ends attached grippers 17, 18 for holding of substrates 19, 19 '.

In the process phase shown in Fig. 1 is a Substrate 19 introduced into the vacuum chamber 3 and the transport arm 15 or its gripper 17th has been taken over, there is a second one already provided with a first layer Substrate 19 'in the area of the transfer device 5, where it from the transport arm 16 or its Gripper 18 has been taken over. For the purpose of further coating is now the still untreated Substrate 19 gradually from the transport arm 15 transported to the area of PECVD source 6, where it stays for a predetermined time while at the same time in the same period Substrate 19 'from its position on the transport plate 20 of the transfer station 5 in one smooth transport movement from the transport arm 16 in the direction of arrow b at the sputtering sources 10, 11 moved past to the area of the source 12 (see Fig. 2). In the next phases of The coating process moves the substrate 19 gradually in the position shown in Fig. 3 on the transport plate 20, where there is a certain Time remains until the substrate 19 'of the source 12 moved up to the transport plate 20 Has. In the next phase of the coating process the transport plate is in the direction of the arrow c rotated by 180 ° so that the substrates 19, 19 'swap their position on the turntable 20 and the substrate 19 'in one transport step positioned above source 7 while the substrate 19 evenly in the direction of the arrow b until the source 12 is pivoted. In the next phase of the The coating process achieves the fully coated Substrate 19 'the discharge station 9, while the six-layer substrate 19 reached a position on the turntable 20. It is clear that the procedure outlined above is coordinated so that at the same time with the discharge of a completely coated substrate 19 provided with seven layers, 19 '... another uncoated substrate 19 ", 19 '", ... via station 8 into the vacuum chamber 8 is introduced, so that a continuous working procedure reached becomes.

The process gases introduced into the vacuum chamber 3 can, for example, HMDSO (hexamethyldisiloxane) and be oxygen / nitrogen, the one with the Source 6 layer created a scratch protection layer and the layer generated with the source 7 can be water-repellent layer, which is why the Queller. 6, 7 each connected to an R.F. power supply are.

With the sources arranged in the vacuum chamber 4 10 to 14 are cathodes with metallic Targets for dusting reactive layers (e.g. titanium dioxide, silicon dioxide), for which the Process gases such as oxygen and argon could be.

As can be seen from Figures 1 to 5, act the two transport arms 15, 16 and the transport plate 20 driving motors so together that the substrates 19, 19 ', ... in the area of the two Sources 6, 7 each stay longer than each in the area of one of the sources 10 to 14, for which the Transport arm 15 suddenly or gradually moved and thus enables a static coating, while the transport arm 16 continuously circulates and thus dynamic coatings allows.

It is clear that instead of a total of five different Coating sources 10 to 14 in the Vacuum chamber 4, for example, only two coating sources can be provided (e.g. to produce a high refractive index and a low refractive index Layer), then why the synchronization the rotating parts, d. H. the transport arms 15, 16 or the transport plate 20 accordingly is to be coordinated.

In the event that the operation of sources 6, 7 the one Vacuum chamber 3 different pressures and / or process gases is required in this chamber 3 a bulkhead 23 in the form of a sheet metal blank with a slit lock for the passage of the Transport arms 15 with substrate gripper 17 can be used. The bulkhead 23 is dashed in Fig. 1 Lines indicated.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

2 3

vacuum chamber

4

vacuum chamber

5

Substrate transfer device

6

PECVD source, electrode

7

PECVD source, electrode

8th

infeed station

9

removal station

10

Sputter source, cathode

11

Sputter source, cathode

12

Sputter source, cathode

13

Sputter source, cathode

14

Sputter source, cathode

15

transport arm

16

transport arm

17

Substrate-gripper

18

Substrate-gripper

19, 19 ', ...

substratum

20

transport plate

21

substrate holder

22

substrate holder

23

bulkhead

Claims (4)

1. Device for coating substrates in a vacuum, with a rotatable substrate carrier (15, 16, 20) with at least one coating station (6, 7; 10 to 14) and with a loading and unloading station (8, 9), characterized in that two vacuum chambers (3, 4) are provided immediately adjacent to one another, a rotatable substrate carrier or conveying arm (15, 16) being supported in each of the two chambers (3, 4), the axes of rotation of the two conveying arms (15, 16) running parallel to one another and the conveying planes of the conveying arms (15, 16) being aligned with one another, a lock with a transfer device (5) corresponding with the two conveying arms (15, 16) being provided in the area of separation of the two chambers (3, 4) and one chamber (3) having the loading and unloading station (8, 9).
2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the transfer device (5) has a motor-driven rotary table (20) with at least two substrate depositories or substrate holders (21, 22), which are rotatable in a plane with the grippers (17, 18) of the conveying arms (15, 16), roughly one half of the conveying table (20) protruding into each of the two vacuum chambers (3, 4) and being sealed against the adjacent chamber walls by means of slit locks.
3. Device according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that one or both chambers (3, 4) have bulkheads (23) for the purpose of gas separation, which bulkheads divide the process area (3 and 4) and which are each provided with a slit lock in the plane of rotation of the conveying arms (15, 16) for the passage of the latter.
4. Device according to claims 1 and/or 2, characterized in that the conveying arms (15, 16) and the conveying table (20) are driven by a motor-gearbox unit, the shaft (A) of one conveying arm and the shaft (C) of the conveying table (20) rotating stepwise and the shaft (B) of the other conveying arm (16) rotating continuously.

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